James Thomas, of Slocomb, is a simple man. He wears a cowboy hat and has a white mustache. He knows how much it’s rained on his small farm this week — not enough — and how much goat feed will cost next week — too much.
He is what he is, he says. He is what God made him to be. In other words, Thomas doesn’t put on airs.
However, he does put on border collie demonstrations to advance the gospel. He calls it Border Collies for Christ, and he’s very serious about it, though species doesn’t much matter, he said.
"Anything you do for God is important. I don’t care if you had a trained squirrel out there that could do some tricks. If you had it trained and you used it with God’s Word to do an outreach, it’s just as good as a horse or a dog," he said.
Thomas, a member of New Hinson Baptist Church, Slocomb, in Geneva Baptist Association, owns and operates Valley Border Collies, a 30-day program for training stock dogs to work and herd various types of livestock for fellow farmers. He’s been working with the breed since 1980, and he has what he calls a "special gift" for it.
But the training is just his day job. Thomas’ real passion is his ministry.
Since 2004, he has been packing up his three border collies and taking them by wagon to whatever church, rodeo or fair will have him.
The operation is a regular feature at the Wiregrass Heritage Festival and Spring Farm Day, both held once a year on a Saturday at Dothan’s Landmark Park.
"He always does the same program for our school groups the Friday before those days and everybody just loves it," said the park’s program director Kathie Moore.
"We get letters from the schools, and a lot of times, the kids say that the border collies were their very favorite thing. He’s really good with the kids, good with the people and really good with the dogs."
Though the park is Alabama’s official agricultural museum, Thomas has never watered down his Christian message.
"We told them — me and my wife — that we’re going to minister to people while we’re out there," he said.
The goal of Thomas’ ministry is to demonstrate God’s control over the lives of Christians by demonstrating his control over his dogs.
"We start off the program with prayer, and then we do our biblical principles. We show that we’re under God’s commands just like the dogs are when they bring the sheep around."
Thomas said he’s never had anyone, adult or child, get up from one of his shows.
"James and his wife, Louise, do a very good job," said Dennis Singletary, pastor of New Hinson Baptist.
"They touch a lot of folks when they have an opportunity to do demonstrations. It’s a good ministry and a good outreach opportunity."
And it’s an opportunity Thomas hopes will continue to grow.
"We want to show what a Christian’s life is supposed to be about and what God has done for us with the animals," he said. "God has used these dogs to build witness."
For more information, call Thomas at 334-886-2524.
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